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Location, collection date, laboratory number (CSIR CAS Food and Beverage Laboratory) and details of Cladium mariscus plant parts collected for analysis.
Source publication
The sedge, Cladium mariscus, has been identified in Middle Stone Age deposits at the shelter Sibudu, South Africa, where the leaves were used as “bedding” - an informal floor covering for various activities. Cladium mariscus nutlets were recovered from layers 73 000-39 000 years old and are likely to have entered the shelter on the plants harvested...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... culm base (section at the lower end of an upright stem) and nutlet samples were collected, sealed in plastic bags, refrigerated and submitted the following day for analysis at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Consulting and Analytical Services (CSIR CAS) Food and Beverage Laboratory in Cape Town. Moisture, fat, protein and ash measurements were made of the collected samples (Table 1) so that carbohydrate and energy values could be calcu- lated. The official methods of AOAC International (2012) were used in the calculations: for moisture -AOAC 935.29; for ash - AOCS Ba 5a-49; for protein -AOAC 968.06; for total fat - AOAC 996.06; for glycaemic carbohydrate values -AOAC 991.43 and 2002.02. ...Context 2
... values for mature Bolboschoenus glaucus tubers are from Wollstonecroft (2009: table 15.1); for marula (Sclerocarya birrea) are from Shone (1979); for three "Hadza" tubers, //ekwa (Vigna frutescens), makaritako (Eminia entennulifa) and panjuko (Ipomoea transvaalensis), are from Schoeninger et al. (2001: table 4); and for the marama bean (/oi) Tylosema esculentum and the wild coffee bean (n≠an≠te) Bauhinia petersiana subsp. macrantha from Tanaka (1976: table 4 ...Citations
... Leaves of the fen-sedge, which is clearly identifiable in the pollen profile from the site in the Boreal period, could have been used for a similar purpose. The use of this plant for thatching has been suggested for the late Mesolithic site Bökeberg III in southern Sweden (Regnell et al., 1995) and is known from the Middle Stone Age site Sibudu in South Africa, where leaves were used as "bedding" -an informal floor covering for various activities (Sievers, 2015). Also, the Cladiums sedge nutlets, corms, tubers and rhizomes are widely reported as food in archaeological and ethnographic contexts (e.g. ...
Human-environmental relations before agriculture can be revealed at archaeological sites through multi-method palaeoenvironmental studies, particularly at sites which have both dryland and wetland areas. Paliwodzizna 29 is such as site, being a series of pits and hearths at the edge of Lake Grodno in Central Poland. A combination of faunal analysis, lithostratigraphy, pollen, diaspores, charcoal and sedaDNA from the site revealed seasonal collecting type occupation based on the catching of pike (a superfood) in the spring in the early Mesolithic, but a different foraging-type pattern of occupation probably in the summer in the late Mesolithic. Subtle human impacts on the local environment are also seen, including probably burning of some woodland and reed-beds as well as localized soil erosion. This analysis reveals the potential of both such sites, and the combined methodology , for the testing of theoretical models of human mobility and activities in the Mesolithic.
... Disturbance caused by the recent digging of pits, animal burrowing and rockfall was easily recognized and clearly delimited during the excavations. Sibudu features excellent organic preservation, with bone, charcoal, carbonized seeds and other plant remains found throughout the sequence 80,82,83 . The faunal assemblage from PSB layers is dominated by suids. ...
Fully shaped, morphologically standardized bone tools are generally considered reliable indicators of the emergence of modern behavior. We report the discovery of 23 double-beveled bone tools from ~ 80,000-60,000-year-old archaeological layers at Sibudu Cave in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We analyzed the texture of use-wear on the archaeological bone tools, and on bone tool replicas experimentally used in debarking trees, processing rabbit pelts with and without an ochre compound, digging in sediment in and outside a cave, and on ethnographic artefacts. Debarking trees and digging in humus-rich soil produce use-wear patterns closely matching those observed on most Sibudu tools. This tool type is associated with three different Middle Stone Age cultural traditions at Sibudu that span 20,000 years, yet they are absent at contemporaneous sites. Our results support a scenario in which some southern African early modern human groups developed and locally maintained specific, highly standardized cultural traits while sharing others at a sub-continental scale. We demonstrate that technological and texture analyses are effective means by which to infer past behaviors and assess the significance of prehistoric cultural innovations.
... A comparison of our results with others is hampered by the lack of published data concerning C. mariscus, particularly its nutritional value and mineral content. Only one study analyzed the nutlets, rhizomes, and culms of C. mariscus collected in South Africa [56]. Sievers (2015) showed that the nutlets are not a rich source of protein (30 g kg −1 ) or fat (3 g kg −1 ) but have a high content of carbohydrates (490g kg −1 DM), however digestible and undigestible fiber contents were not addressed [56]. ...
... Only one study analyzed the nutlets, rhizomes, and culms of C. mariscus collected in South Africa [56]. Sievers (2015) showed that the nutlets are not a rich source of protein (30 g kg −1 ) or fat (3 g kg −1 ) but have a high content of carbohydrates (490g kg −1 DM), however digestible and undigestible fiber contents were not addressed [56]. ...
... Only one study analyzed the nutlets, rhizomes, and culms of C. mariscus collected in South Africa [56]. Sievers (2015) showed that the nutlets are not a rich source of protein (30 g kg −1 ) or fat (3 g kg −1 ) but have a high content of carbohydrates (490g kg −1 DM), however digestible and undigestible fiber contents were not addressed [56]. ...
In our endeavor to identify salt-tolerant plants with potential veterinary uses in ruminants' production strategies, we focused on Cladium mariscus L. Pohl (sawgrass), due its high total phenolic and tannin content, anti-radical properties and ethnomedicinal uses. Aerial parts were collected along the year in Southern Portugal and evaluated for nutritional profile and in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), aiming its use as feed. Acetone extracts were appraised for total contents in phenolics (TPC), flavonoids (TFC) and tannins (CTC) and chemical composition by HPLC-DAD and in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, targeting its exploitation as phytotherapeutic products. Sawgrass biomass has limited interest, due to its high neutral detergent fiber [NDF; 596-690 g kg-1 dry matter (DM)] and acid detergent lignin (ADL; 5-24 g kg-1 DM) contents, low crude protein (51.8-87.3 g kg-1DM) and IVOMD [172-317 g kg-1 organic matter (OM)]. Despite differences among seasons, the mineral profile was adequate. The extracts were rich in TPC (88-112mg g-1), CTC (115-169mg g-1) and TFC (18.5-20.2 mg g-1) and displayed significant antioxidant capacity, particularly in summer and autumn, whilst no seasonal influence was detected for anti-inflammatory properties (30% reduction of nitric oxide production). Eleven phenolics were quantified: chlorogenic, ferulic and syringic acids were the most abundant, especially in the autumn sample. Overall, despite low nutritional interest, sawgrass extracts hold potential as source of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phenolic compounds.
... Sibudu Cave, an archaeological site in KwaZulu-Natal, has previously provided botanical and zoological proxies for past environments and plant use (for example, Allott, 2004Allott, , 2005Allott, , 2006Wadley, 2004Wadley, , 2006Wadley, , 2012bWadley, , 2013aRenaut & Bamford, 2006;Schiegl & Conard, 2006;Sievers, 2006Sievers, , 2011Sievers, , 2013aSievers, , b, 2014Sievers, , 2015Sievers & Wadley, 2008;Wadley et al., 2008;Clark, 2009Clark, , 2011Clark, , 2013Chase, 2010;Wadley et al., 2011;Bruch et al., 2012;Dusseldorp, 2014;Hall et al., 2014;Val, 2014;Lennox, 2016;Val et al., 2016;de la Peña & Wadley, 2017). Sibudu is a large rock shelter situated on a cliff above the uThongathi river, about 40 km north of Durban and 15 km inland of the Indian Ocean (Figure 1). ...
Here we present charcoal identifications for Rose Cottage Cave, Eastern Free State, from layers dated between about 96,000 and 35,000 years ago (∼96 and ∼35 ka ago). We then suggest plant community types that might have been established in the area in warm Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS5) versus cooler MIS4/MIS3 phases. The hypothesis is that frost-tender plants should occur in warm phases while hardy Leucosidea sericea, Protea spp. and Erica spp. should be more common during cooler phases more recent than ∼74 ka ago. Leucosidea sericea thrives under moist conditions and its presence in late MIS4 and in several MIS3 layers at Rose Cottage implies that the area may have been moister than many other sites in the interior of southern Africa, thereby making it attractive for occupation. The charcoal identifications at ∼96 ka ago included taxa like Buddleja salvifolia that need somewhat warmer conditions than taxa such as Leucosidea sericea. Taxa diversity based on the charcoal identifications is generally low at the site throughout the Middle Stone Age, but the vegetation from relatively warm MIS5 seems more diverse than that of MIS4 and MIS3. Some taxa identified, for example, Calodendrum capense, Leucosidea sericea, Erica caffra and Protea caffra no longer grow near the cave although they are commonly found in other parts of eastern South Africa.
... Moreover seed and fruit remains bear witness to other activities than fuel collection notably to foraging for food, fodder and medicinal uses (Thornton-Barnett 2013). In Southern Africa most fruit/seed studies concern Middle Stone Age sites like Sibudu (Sievers 2015, Sievers 2017, Wadley 2004 and West Africa ? Rolando 1997 much less can be said about Holocene/LSA settlements (Symes 2008, Symes, 2012. ...
Through macrobotanical (wood charcoal and seeds / fruit) analysis from three major Later Stone Age (LSA) sites located in the Kgalagadi Basin in southern Africa, this study is interested in reconstructing the environmental conditions during the Holocene in the region, in particular in the last two to three millennia. Initially this work couples archaeological macrobotanical analysis with the construction of modern reference material in an effort to trace the environmental / vegetal evolution as well as to comprehend socio-ecological and socio-environmental dynamics in Southern Africa during the late Holocene. The scope of this study covers the period spanning the last 3000-2000 years, with the main objective of understanding what relationships humans had with their environment at a time linked with the arrival or the appearance of the first herding practices in that part of Africa. These herding practices are believed to be accompanied by significant human movement from eastern or central Africa southwards. Favourable environmental conditions may have influenced their routes as well as settlement choices, and these are aspects that this archaeobotanical study aims to address. This study also employed an ethnographic approach, working with local communities in the Erongo region of Namibia, so as to make inferences to past vegetation utilisation practices while at the same time discerning and reconstituting past human activities.
... Sibudu Cave, an archaeological site in KwaZulu-Natal, has previously provided botanical and zoological proxies for past environments and plant use (for example, Allott, 2004Allott, , 2005Allott, , 2006Wadley, 2004Wadley, , 2006Wadley, , 2012bWadley, , 2013aRenaut & Bamford, 2006;Schiegl & Conard, 2006;Sievers, 2006Sievers, , 2011Sievers, , 2013aSievers, , b, 2014Sievers, , 2015Sievers & Wadley, 2008;Wadley et al., 2008;Clark, 2009Clark, , 2011Clark, , 2013Chase, 2010;Wadley et al., 2011;Bruch et al., 2012;Dusseldorp, 2014;Hall et al., 2014;Val, 2014;Lennox, 2016;Val et al., 2016;de la Peña & Wadley, 2017). Sibudu is a large rock shelter situated on a cliff above the uThongathi river, about 40 km north of Durban and 15 km inland of the Indian Ocean (Figure 1). ...
New charcoal identifications are reported from the archaeological site, Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal. From six layers dated 77,000 to 65,000 years ago, 617/769 specimens were identified to 54 different woody taxa and of these 37 were identified to species level. The wood bundles are mostly from taxa suitable as fuel (including tinder); to a lesser extent there is wood from plants that may have been collected for medicinal purposes. The woody taxa in combustion features vary spatially, suggesting that specific wood may have been collected for predetermined purposes. Low and medium-density wood occurs in the combustion features more often than high-density wood and this supports previous studies which concluded that moderate fire temperatures were desired and that people deliberately selected wood types to achieve such temperatures. Identified woody taxa are from evergreen forest and savanna or cliff scrub vegetation communities so a mosaic of habitats is implied. Trees such as Afrocarpus/Podocarpus, Ptaeroxylon obliquum, Buxus macowanii, Harpephyllum caffrum and Curtisia dentata belong to forest, Searsia spp. to the forest margins, and Protea caffra and Erica caffra to cliff scrub. Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5a and 4 are represented in the 77,000 to 65,000-year-old occupations at Sibudu and during the cooler conditions that probably existed in MIS4 the numbers of deciduous genera increased together with taxa diversity, possibly implying that both the forest and forest margins expanded. Numbers of evergreen genera remained constant through time.
... There are also a few interpretations of plant food processing in the MSA. Sievers (2015) suggests that Cladium nutlets could have been cooked and eaten at Sibudu. The nutlets could have been brought to the site with sedges used as bedding (Wadley et al. 2011) and consumed out of convenience, or they could have been selected particularly for their value as food. ...
... The nutlets could have been brought to the site with sedges used as bedding (Wadley et al. 2011) and consumed out of convenience, or they could have been selected particularly for their value as food. However, the particular cooking technique of the nutlets still needs to be further examined (Sievers 2015). Charred marula (Sclerocarya birrea) was found in some MSA contexts at Bushman Rock Shelter and interpreted as a sign of anthropogenic activity (Badenhorst and Plug 2012). ...
In the first part of this paper, we present the first review of cooking techniques in the African Middle Stone Age. We show that the current knowledge is based on a restricted number of studies and on zooarchaeology and archaeobotany and that the research implies that MSA cooking consisted of roasting meat, shellfish, fish, and perhaps plant food on or by the fire. Nevertheless, potentially heated quartzite was found during recent excavation at Klasies River main site, and cooking could have been one reason for heating the rocks. We designed a series of experimental studies to examine the formation of these rocks and report on two pilot experiments in the second part of the paper. Experimental fires were conducted to heat locally sourced quartzite. One sample group was heated on an open fire, while the second sample group was heated on an open fire and subsequently dropped into water. Both groups were heated three times and the colours of the rock samples recorded before the experiments and between each heating episode. After the experimental fires, both sample groups displayed colours that were similar to the ones found in the
archaeological sample. The heated quartzite sample also displayed cracks and breaks that were similar to the archaeological sample, but the water-exposed sample did not. The results from the experiments points to intentional heating of the archaeological sample, but not to the use of hot-rock boiling in the MSA.
... In the northern hemisphere, macrofossil analysis is long known as a primary source to provide insights into peatland and lake development, and to identify peat-building plant species (Grosse-Brauckmann, 1972, 1974Katz and Katz, 1946). Fossil fruits and seeds in South Africa have been studied so far only in the context of archaeological works (Sievers, 2015;Sievers and Muasya, 2011;Wintjes and Sievers, 2006). ...
For the first time, plant macrofossil analysis supported by detailed stratigraphic studies was used to reconstruct peatland development in South Africa. Two peat cores (4.69 and 1.5 m) from two coastal peatlands in KwaZulu-Natal were analysed for carpological macrofossils, wood and macrocharcoal. The first one, Matitimani, is an unchannelled valley bottom peatland (site VB), and the second one, KwaMazambane, an interdune depression peatland (site ID) further up in the same catchment. Radiocarbon dating reveals the peatland initiation at site VB at about 6260 cal. yr BP. Rising sea level and humid climatic conditions during that time coincide with the formation of organic gyttja (dominantly aquatic seeds like Nymphaea sp.). In ca. 4950 cal. yr BP, a change to drier condition took place, revealed by the formation of radicell peat from Cyperaceae, and an increase of fire frequency (macrocharcoal). After ca. 1200 cal. yr BP, peat swamp forest emerged, with Ficus trichopoda, Syzygium cordatum and Voacanga thouarsii forming wood peat. Site ID dates back to ca. 920 cal. yr BP. Its initiation is assumingly related to reduced drainage capacities of the catchment subsequently to the peat formation in Matitimani valley. A steady change from gyttja forming communities (Nymphaea sp.–Eleocharis dulcis) to radicell peat-forming Cyperaceae communities took place. The long-term apparent rate of carbon accumulation (LORCA) is higher for site ID (89 gC m⁻² yr⁻¹) than for site VB (55 gC m⁻² yr⁻¹). Except for the peat swamp forest period, fire occurred frequently at both sites, however less in environments with frequent inundations.
... The study of archaeological plant remains, predominantly found in the form of charcoals, seeds and more occasionally as leaves, allows different kinds of investigation and interpretation (Sievers & Muasya 2011;Wadley 2012;Lennox & Bamford 2015;Sievers 2015). While these plant remains are good indicators of past environments, they also document a suite of behaviors that can be interpreted with reference to their known properties (as poisons, repellants, medicines, hallucinogens, etc.). ...
Elands Bay Cave provides the opportunity to characterize Holocene technologies and hunter-gatherers
adaptations in the West Coast of South Africa. In this paper, we discuss the question of adhesives uses
and manufactures by applying a biomolecular and technological analysis to three unpublished organic
artefacts recovered from the 1970s excavation. The first piece is a large handle made of adhesive and with
a tear-drop shape (the ‘handle’), the second piece is a kind of pencil grip wrapping a microlithic quartz
segment (the ‘grip’), and the last piece takes the form of a macro-residue likely sealing the perforation of
an ostrich eggshell flask (the ‘sealant’). The results of our study document the selection and transformation
of Podocarpus resin, mixed with quartz sand to produce adhesive. One case study (the sealant) suggests
that fat was added to the recipe in order to modify the adhesive’s properties. The paper provides a unique
insight into Holocene organic technologies and fuels ideas on how hunter-gatherers adapted and took
benefit from local natural resources. We suggest that Podocarpus, in South Africa, has been specifically
chosen for adhesive manufacture since, at least, the MIS4.
... likely for site maintenance (Goldberg et al. 2009; and this is probably the reason why so many sedge nutlets were burned and became incorporated in the sediments. It is true, however, that the minute Cyperaceae seeds are edible, as are the rhizomes, so we cannot exclude their use as food in addition to the use of culms for bedding (Sievers 2011(Sievers , 2015. MSA plant bedding has likewise been recovered from Diepkloof and Strathalan Cave B and at the latter site took the form of grass (Opperman and Heydenrych 1990;Opperman 1996;Miller et al. 2013). ...
Africa's Middle Stone Age (MSA) may have lasted almost half a million years, but its earliest expression is not yet well understood. The MSA is best known for innovations that appear in the archaeological record at various times after about 200,000 years ago with the first appearance of Homo sapiens. These novel behaviours embrace hafting technology, the use of compound paints and adhesives, ingenious lithic technology that included pressure flaking and the heat treatment of rock, the engraving of ochre and eggshell with geometric designs, the stringing of shell beads and the production of a wide range of bone implements. Such innovations might have been linked to new types of social behaviour stimulated by demographic pulses and movements within and out of the continent. Population shifts may have occurred repeatedly during the MSA. Southern African sites seem concentrated in the interior of the subcontinent before 130 kya. Thus, the florescence of MSA innovations described here appears to have coincided with the dispersal after 130 kya of populations from the interior to mountainous areas, but, more particularly, to the coastal stretches of the southern and western Cape. Coastal sites are the focus of much of southern Africas research into the MSA and some of the continents most esteemed sites are coastal ones, particularly those containing iconic Still Bay and Howiesons Poort technocomplexes. By 58 kya occupations tended once more to shift away from the southern coast and back into the interior, or to the eastern seaboard. Some of these later MSA sites have extensive footprints, implying population growth or repeated occupations. Regional and even local variability is characteristic of stone assemblages of the time, while sites seem to have fewer ornaments or decorated items than was formerly the case. The variability in late MSA lithic assemblages is matched by apparent flexibility in the timing of the transfer from the MSA to the Later Stone Age.
